Report to/Rapport au: Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee/

Comité consultatif local sur la conservation de l’architecture

Planning and Development Committee

Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’aménagement

and Council/au Conseil

04 December 2000

Submitted by/Soumis par: Edward Robinson, Commissioner/Commissaire,

Department of Urban Planning and Public Works/Service de l’urbanisme et des travaux publics,

Planning Branch/Direction de l’urbanisme

Prepared by/Préparé par: Sally Coutts, Heritage Planner/Urbaniste chargé du patrimoine, Current Planning Division/Division des projets d’urbanisme en cours

244-5300 ext. 1-3474 couttss@city.ottawa.on.ca

 

 

Ward/Quartier: 12  Rideau-Vanier

Ref N°: ACS2000-PW-PLN-0183

 

 

SUBJECT/OBJET:

ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT, DEMOLITION – 126 RIDEAU STREET/LOI SUR LE PATRIMOINE DE L’ONTARIO – DÉMOLITION – 126, RUE RIDEAU 

FILE:  OHD4300 RIDEAU 126

 

Application to Demolish the former Ogilvy’s Department Store, 126 Rideau Street, a building protected under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

 

Demande en vue de démolir l’ancien magasin Ogilvy, 126, rue Rideau, un immeuble protégé en vertu de la partie IV de la Loi sur le patrimoine de l’Ontario.

 


REPORT RECOMMENDATION(S)


 

That the application to demolish the former Ogilvy’s Department Store, a building protected  under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, received by the City of Ottawa on November 9, 2000 be REFUSED.

 

 

Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee Recommendation - January 16, 2001

 

<         The Committee concurs and so recommends.

 

 

 


BACKGROUND


 

Reasons Behind Recommendation

 

The Department of Urban Planning and Public Works recommends that Viking Rideau Corporation be refused permission to demolish the former Ogilvy’s Department Store. On October 4, 2000 Council unanimously supported the Department’s recommendation to designate the building under the Ontario Heritage Act, thereby acknowledging the importance of the building not only to the character of Rideau Street but also to the City of Ottawa. Because of this, permission to demolish under the Ontario Heritage Act should not be granted.

 

Although City Council has passed an “Intention to Designate”, a designation by-law has not yet been passed. This is because the Ontario Heritage Act requires that a “Notice of Intent to Designate” be published in the newspaper after City Council recommends designation. The “Notice” enables affected parties to file an objection to the designation within 30 days of the publication of the “Notice.” In this case, objections were to be received by November 20,2000. The owner of the property, Viking Rideau Corporation,  filed its objection to the designation on November 20, 2000 and a Conservation Review Board hearing will be held in the new year. Until the hearing, the property is protected under Part IV of the Act as if the designation by-law had been passed. 

 


DISCUSSION OR ANALYSIS


 

The Department of Urban Planning and Public Works’ recommendation to refuse to permit  the demolition of the building complies with the City of Ottawa Official Plan, Central Area Chapter, Strategic Approach, Section 5.3.8 which states that it is the strategic aim of City Council to:

 

“Recognize the significance of the Central Area’s heritage resources in serving as a source and reminder of Ottawa’s original settlement, its early built form and identity..."

 

Further policies in the Central Area chapter also stress the importance of maintaining the area’s heritage resources, such as Urban Design policy 5.6.2b):

 

“City Council shall conserve and enhance the Central Area’s heritage resources, including buildings, structures, sites, areas and landscape elements having architectural, historical, cultural and/or environmental significance.”

 

The Official Plan further outlines its aims for Rideau Street itself in the Rideau Street Theme Street policies. The preservation of heritage resources is an important component of this.  Policy  1.12.3c)  relates directly to these heritage resources:

 

“City Council shall ensure the protection, conservation and enhancement of heritage resources on Rideau Street, and shall ensure that the design of development respects and is sensitive to, such heritage features...” (Note: the policies included in the Secondary Policy Plan have been approved by City Council but are currently deferred. A report lifting their deferral is scheduled to go to the new City Council in late January 2001 whereupon the deferral will be lifted.) 

 

All of the above policies,  and City Council’s recent designation of the building, clearly indicate that its demolition should not be permitted.  

 


CONSULTATION


 

The owner of the property, Viking Rideau Corporation, is aware of the position of the Department of Urban Planning and Public Works on the proposed demolition.

 

Adjacent property owners as well as local businesses and business associations were notified by letter of the date of the LACAC meeting, were provided with comment sheets to be returned to LACAC and will be informed of the date of the new Planning Committee meeting. This is in accordance with City Council’s public participation policy regarding heritage demolitions.

 

 


FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS


 

N/A

 


ATTACHMENTS


 

Document 1 -   Location Map

Document 2 -   Statement of Reason for Designation, approved by City Council on October 4, 2000.

Document 3 -   Photographs

 


DISPOSITION


 

The Department of Corporate Services, Statutory Services Branch to notify the owner (D.A. Maclellan, Viking Rideau Corporation, 50 Rideau Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 9J7) and the Ontario Heritage Foundation (10 Adelaide Street East, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1J3) of City Council’s decision.

 


Location Map                                                                                                                 Document 1

 


                                                                                                                                                                                   Document 2

 

STATEMENT OF REASON FOR DESIGNATION

 

The former Ogilvy’s Department Store has both historical and architectural significance. It was built by Charles Ogilvy in 1906-1907, with additions in 1917, 1931 and 1934.  Born in 1861, Ogilvy emigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1863, immediately moving to Ottawa where his father opened a stationery shop.  Ogilvy began his career at the firm of Elliott and Hamilton, Dry Goods.  In 1887, Ogilvy left that firm to establish his own dry goods shop on Rideau Street.  By 1906 he had prospered sufficiently to build a new store.  Business continued to grow and Ogilvy's eventually became a flourishing department store with branches in Ottawa's suburbs.  This evolution parallels the North America-wide development of the department store as the most important retail phenomenon of the late 19th and 20th centuries.  Ottawa was unique among Canadian cities because its two leading local department stores, Ogilvy's and Freiman's, were sufficiently successful to discourage the entry of national chains into the city until the 1960s.

 

Ogilvy's was built in four stages.  The original dry goods store, designed by prominent Ottawa architect W.E. Noffke and completed in 1907, was a rectangular structure with five bays facing Rideau Street and seven bays facing Nicholas Street.  In 1917, it was extended back eight more bays to Besserer Street, also to plans by Noffke.  The fourth and fifth floors, designed by Ottawa architect A.J. Hazelgrove, were added in 1931 and 1933 respectively.  The addition of the top two storeys and the resulting removal of the original third floor cornice transformed Ogilvy's from a conservative design to a modern design more typical of 1930s commercial architecture.

 

The building is a large, flat-roofed, rectangular buff-coloured brick, steel-framed structure, highly regular in style and detail.  Character-defining features of the building include the use of the Greek key motif on the spandrel panels and secondary cornice, the metal cornice, the wood-framed windows, the "Tree of Life" panels and the distinctive rounded northeast corner. Its prominent corner location, anchoring the end of an important block of Rideau Street, also contributes to its heritage value.

 

The interior of the building, the interior’s structure and the west facade are not included in this designation. 

 

 


Photographs                                                                                                                    Document 3